Lorde’s putdown feminism: The politics of calling out other women

There’s something incredibly refreshing about Lorde, the 16-year-old pop singer whose debut song, “Royals,” is currently dominating the American charts. Most celebrities’ images feel calculated and studied, as if they were constantly auditioning for a pageant, but Lorde is a girl who is willing to speak her mind. She will say anything and doesn’t seem to care much what you think.

BuzzFeed highlighted the singer’s penchant for brutal honesty in a post about the singer’s statements on other pop stars. The post quickly went viral simply because Lorde is saying the things that many of us wish we could say on a public stage -- particularly about Beyonce, who Lorde believes is a “goddess” and the “epitome of poise and grace.” Glad to see we’re on the same page, Lorde.

But most of Lorde’s statements are clever put-downs of her contemporaries -- in a way that music listeners are highly familiar with. Part of selling yourself as a musician is proving you’re the best, which is why rappers like Kanye, Jay-Z or Eminem will regularly diss other performers in their music. Referring to a beef that the rapper had with Moby, Eminem sang in “Without Me”: “Moby, you can get stoned by Obie.”